Conventionally, the components of an integrated circuit are interconnected by electrically conducting tracks which run in two preferential orthogonal directions. This type of routing is known by those skilled in the art as “Manhattan routing”. This type of routing does not allow two components of the circuit situated obliquely to be connected “in a straight line”, for example along a diagonal, with respect to one another, in the reference frame formed by the preferential orthogonal interconnection directions. The interconnection lengths, and hence the propagation times of the signals, are not optimal in all the directions of the circuit.
A routing allowing oblique, for example diagonal, interconnections would be desirable from the point of view of the performance characteristics of the circuit but is not compatible with the fabrication techniques for integrated circuits having a high density of integration.